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NYPD Still Arresting Protesters Using Antiquated Mask Law on #s17


September 17, 2013 | Andy Cush

By many accounts, Zuccoti Park is much quieter today, on the second anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, than it was last year or during the movement’s 2011 inception. Still, that hasn’t stopped police from harassing protesters like they always do, or from taking advantage of a 150-year-old law that allows them to arrest anyone wearing a mask in public.

NYC filmmaker Casey Neistat, no stranger to documenting protests, saw such arrests happening from the window of his Tribeca office and snapped the photos above.

“I heard a familiar sound outside my office window this afternoon, that of an OWS protester being arrested,” Neistat told ANIMAL. “I covered the original protests extensively but decided to sit it out this year. They found me though, literally just outside my door.”

“Seeing an arrest motivated me to put on my press pass and get a closer look,” he added. “From what I could see three protesters were arrested for wearing masks or covering their faces. They were put in a paddy wagon, the protests moved north on Broadway and I went back to work.”

See Neistat’s photos–including a truly gnarly shot of a cop spitting what looks like chewing tobacco–in the gallery.

(Photos: Casey Neistat)